No ‘Kid’ding: Goats Join Sheep to Manage Renard Island Vegetation
Earlier this year, the Port of Green Bay awarded a contract to Wooly Green Grazers of Appleton for vegetation management at Renard Island. Over the past couple of months, the animals have been making excellent progress as they graze the island.
With all the rain this year, the island vegetation grew fast and tall. Renard island has a large variety of vegetation, including stinging nettles, marsh elders, phragmites, foxtail and Canadian thistle. Initially, there were around 50 sheep on the island in a rotational grazing process, with different groups of sheep on different quadrants on the island.
Since the vegetation grew so rapidly this season, Wooly Green Grazers saw it appropriate to introduce goats to the island to assist the sheep. Currently, there are over 100 animals on the island. The animals have now been working in a mob grazing process, with all teams running side by side on smaller sections, changing sections around every 36 hours.
This is true for all except the ram team, which must stay away from the ewes until their breeding time in late October and early November.
With the help of the goats, grazing of the entire island is expected to be complete by…
